Douglas Carter Beane wrote the book for a new musical, “Lysistrata Jones,” which opens on Broadway tonight. Beane, who also wrote “Xanadu” and “Sister Act,” took what he called a “comic riff” on the Aristophanes classic, “Lysistrata,” setting the story on a university campus and centering it on one girl, her cheerleader friends, and a basketball team.

Speakeasy caught up with Beane, who lives in Manhattan, to discuss the new show.

How did you come to write the book for “Lysistrata Jones”?

It was on Sept. 12, 2001. Lewis [Flinn, the composer-lyricist of “Lysistrata Jones”] and I had just started dating and I was amazed and shocked at what was going on in the world. We wanted to write something upbeat and positive, and I said let’s do “Lysistrata” and set it on a college campus. As we were banging the drum to go to war with Iraq, somehow anti-war wasn’t as interesting as apathy. Nobody seemed particularly perturbed that we were going to war on charges that I couldn’t quite follow. So I became really fascinated with American apathy and that quality we seem to have of a certain passionless life and how the classical Greeks would abhor that. From that became a very lighthearted, fun musical, but at the core of it is me trying to comprehend and pass on to people this awareness that passion and anger and love and adoration are all important and wonderful things we need to have in our lives.

That theme is embodied in Lysistrata’s line, “Everybody’s all – whatever.”

It’s about apathy and how it’s really just another form of despair, the lover of despair. I totally identify and understand anyone who’s feeling apathetic, about anything, but that doesn’t mean I approve. When people say “Lysistrata” has always been seen as an anti-war play, what’s interesting is to not make it an anti-war play, because I actually think there are important times to go to war in this world. That’s just the reality. But what’s interesting is the not caring.

Did it take more than 10 years to write?

We wrote a draft within three months, Lewis and I did. We did readings downtown with amazing casts, all of whom are now too old to play the roles. Then our lives took over – Lewis and I adopted two kids, Lewis started writing music for television shows, I started doing Broadway shows and musicals. It was when “Xanadu” was going off on national tour, I was having lunch with Dan [Knechtges, the director/choreographer of "Lysistrata Jones"] and he brought up interesting projects and we were trying to find something to do together. I mentioned Lysistrata and basketball courts. He was very excited by that. Once that happened, it was really fast. It was one year to the day we were open in Dallas. One year after Dallas, we were off-Broadway, and two years after Dallas, we are on Broadway.

Was it challenging to revisit this ancient classic, or was it liberating?

I can’t remember which critic referred to it as a comic riff. There are parallels to be found but as I worked on it, I wanted to spin it into more of a story about a girl whose name is Lysistrata and she finds out the meaning of her name and that forces her to do what Lysistrata did. It’s not a direct adaptation. The first act is pretty close to “Lysistrata,” and then the second act is completely American musical theater. The first act is about sex, the second act is about love. It’s sort of American that way.

Were you inspired by other sources in the writing of the book?

In the ‘20s and ‘30s, there were these musicals either set on college campuses or based on classical stories, so any of the Rodgers and Hart musicals certainly influenced me. I was definitely influenced by any of the Porgy songs, I was influenced by “American Pie.” Later, when I went to begin rewriting it, the high school musicals seemed a natural influence on it. Any of that fun stuff. ‘Glee’ didn’t really happen until I was well into it. If I’m seeing you, you’re going to influence me. I’m sorry, I’m just that way. I’m a big sponge. You can’t copyright an aesthetic.

You send the message immediately to the audience, this is going to be fun and silly, but with a message.

I try to create some stupid entertainment for really smart people that they don’t feel too stupid watching. In “Xanadu,” the biggest laugh was a reference to Achilles. But in this, you have to be aware of certain things that are actually going on in the world right now. As I was reading Aristophanes – that may be the most pretentious sentence I’ve ever said – but I was reading a lot of Aristophanes, everything I could get my hands on, every translation I could find of “Lysistrata,” to read them and get a sense of why this is a classic. As I found more strict translations, I was finding them incredibly filthy, incredibly dirty, but also satires of what was going on in Greece at that time. The way people were behaving, what people thought was sexy, there are even references to people in the town, little jokes. I thought, oh, it’s that sort of theater. I love that. You can satirize our insane attachment to iPhones, that you could have the last scene of the play be completely dependent on information people are getting from their iPhones. That people say Congress does nothing, but the final moment of the play, the lead is reading an act of Congress that has huge influence on all of our lives. These things could happen in a very lighthanded manner.

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.